Avengers: Endgame Lands in First With a Snap
In Avengers: Endgame, Thanos refers to himself and his dastardly actions as an “inevitability.” But he could’ve been describing the financial fate of the film itself. It seemed indeed inevitable that Endgame would finish the weekend No. 1. The real question was by how much. Could it earn more than the $257.7 million its forebear, […]
Forget About Saving the World. The MCU is All About Family
We could unpack a lot of stuff with Avengers: Endgame, Marvel’s three-hour finale to its 11-year, 22-movie odyssey (so far). And hopefully we’ll have opportunity to do just that sometime soon—when most of you have seen it and spoilers aren’t quite as big of an issue. But one thing that I can say about Endgame […]
The Curse of La Llorona is Blessed at the Box Office
Don’t look now, but La Llorona is with us. She cries for her lost children as she stalks through movie theaters, desperately grasping and clawing for the only thing that can assuage her grief: box-office receipts. What? No, no. Got that mixed up for a minute there. La Llorona, the legendary Latin-American bogeywoman, wants to […]
Monsters, Motherhood and The Curse of La Llorona
Horror movies aren’t for everyone. Some aren’t for anyone. But while fright flicks are often freighted with lots of really, really problematic content, some also contain interesting themes, too. Unlike most genres, they have license to deal explicitly with some of the biggest spiritual issues we face: What is evil? What lies in the hereafter? […]
A Culture Clips Blog of Fire and Ice
In the days before the Internet, before television, before most people even knew how to read, there was the church. And Notre Dame, literally and artistically, towered above many. In his book The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo wrote that the cathedral was a “vast symphony in stone.” But it was more than that. […]
Shazam! Is Still Sizzling
Four wide-release films landed in theaters this week, each one of them perhaps hoping to overthrow DC’s mighty superhero flick Shazam!. But here’s the thing: Superheroes are used to fighting multiple adversaries at a time. For the second-straight weekend, DC’s lightning-bolt-branded hero electrified the box office and charged to victory, snapping up an estimated $25.1 […]
Culture Clips: Want Tickets to Avengers: Endgame? Just Sell Your Car
How much would you pay to see a movie? Ten bucks? Fifteen? Wait for it to hit Redbox and $1.75? How ‘bout $10,000? That’s how much opening-weekend tickets for Avengers: Endgame are going for on eBay in some places, according to Fandango.com. And while that might seem a bit overpriced, get this: Someone spent $15,000 […]
What is the Best Movie Made About Jesus?
I just finished watching Mary Magdalene, a high-wattage, low-Scripture take on the life of Christ as seen through the eyes of one of his most prominent followers. My full review will be published later this week, but let me offer one thought now: I was struck by how true it felt in places and how […]
Shazam! Shoots to No. 1
Shazam! Wow! Yes, it’s true: The World’s Mightiest Mortal now fronts the world’s mightiest movie. Shazam!, DC’s latest superhero flick, cleaned up at the box office this weekend, earning about $53.4 million in North America. It’s now polishing its No. 1 trophy that, I’m sure, the box office gives out to all its winners. It […]
Forget Ghosts and Goblins and Things that Go Bump in the Night. What’s Really Scary? Technology.
E-mail inboxes are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get. Sometimes it’s recipes from your grandma. Sometimes it’s ads from furniture outlets begging you to buy a coffee table. Sometimes it’s notifications from Nigerian princes, telling you you’re wealthy beyond your wildest dreams. And every once in a while, you […]